Jolly Harbour Antigua to Tortola BVI

Imagine Of Falmouth Online Log
Jon Constantine
Tue 18 Dec 2007 20:54
18th December 16.00 hrs.

We departed Jolly Harbour at 09.40 and have been sailing on a course of 315 degrees towards the British Virgin Islands.  Our route takes us through the Leeward Islands and we now have Nevis on our port side with St Kitts a little further ahead, also to port.  After them comes Statia and Saba which we will also leave to port. During the night, we will pass St Barts, St Martin and finally Anguilla all of which we will leave to starboard.  If we had more time, we might have stopped at St Martin but as it is, we need to get to Tortola in good time for Christmas.  Half of the island of St Martin is French, and the other half is Dutch (Sint Maarten). There is a story, completely unsupported by historical fact, that the French and Dutch were so civilised that, rather than fight over the island, they had a Frenchman armed with a bottle of wine walk in one direction and a Dutchman equipped with a flask of gin in the other.  Where they met became the boundary, and the French ended up with a bit more because the gin was stronger than the wine. The island is completely duty free and is heavily visited by cruise ships who disgorge their hordes into the famous shopping malls of Philipsburg (Dutch half). There are also numerous hotels and several casinos.  There are also good facilities for yachts and many bays and anchorages; so maybe we will stop here on our way back south next year.

The weather today has been good with a nice 15 kt breeze to push us along at about 6 kts which should see us off the Virgin Islands early tomorrow afternoon.

It is strange being back at sea again. The motion is very similar to our trip across the Atlantic but as the wind is more on our beam than behind us, it is not at rolly although that may change once we alter course slightly more to the west after St Martin.



St. Kitts to port.